Chirstmas in Pallet
by SatoshiUnlimited
Summary: It's been a while since Ash and May went their seperate ways. As the two realize their feelings for the other, will one Christmas in Pallet make a difference? Advanceshipping. Might make a few people laugh.
1. Chapter 1

Thick, dark clouds lazily drifted through a Pallet sky, covering the ground with tiny sparkles of snow as they passed. The air was brisk and a light wind whirled about; the temperature was well below freezing. Yet, the people of Pallet, with faces flushed and noses stuffed, rustled and bustled throughout the small town, and even with the unfavorable cold, their excitement seemed to protect them from the harsh weather. For it was the twenty-second of December, Christmas was just a couple of days away! Some were making their final purchases, whether it be presents or food for family dinners; others were out with loved ones enjoying the Christmas cheer.

With the streets and shops full of busy shoppers, some had taken a break in a nearby park. A young man sat on one of the benches, slouched over with his hat in his hands. A mouse like Pokémon was next to him on the ground, trying his best to make a snow angel despite having such short limbs. The yellow mouse was only managing to dig a hole into the snow, causing two piles of the white powder to form around him. The young man could only stifle his laughter as the two piles collapsed around his Pokémon, completely enveloping the electric Pokémon in the cold flakes,

"C'mon Pikachu," said the young man. "You'll catch a cold if you stay under there."

Pikachu's ears popped out of the snow, and with a shake of his head, Pikachu's face was clear of the pile. Sticking his tail out of the other end of the pile, Pikachu shook the rest of his body out from under the pile, and immediately jumped into the lap of his trainer. Seeing his Pokemon was cold, the young man placed his hat onto of his spikey, raven colored hair, and wrapped the folds of his jacket around Pikachu.

'Thanks Ash,' Pikachu told Ash as he snuggled deep into the warmth of the jacket.

With a smile, and with a hint of humor, Ash replied with "You're welcome, buddy."

Ash caught the look of a man that was walking past the bench, confusion evident across his face. The man quickly looked down and kept on his way, clearly heading towards one of the stores.

"Sometimes I forgot that not all trainers can understand their Pokémon enough to actually talk with them like I can talk with Pikachu," Ash thought aloud to himself.

As the snow continued to fall and Pikachu still warmed himself, Ash thought about the reason for venturing out there. He had wanted to buy a gift for his friend May, but he was afraid of the potential consequences of doing so. With the internal conflict brewing inside of him, he decided to ask Pikachu.

"Pikachu, are you sure that I should do this?" asked Ash. "I mean, I obviously like her, but I don't think that she feels the same way about me, and that could be fatal to our friendship. I don't want my selfishness to ruin what we already have…"

But before Ash could continue, a light, but sharp shock coursed throughout his body, effectively silencing the trainer.

"Seriously Ash, are you really that dense," Pikachu practically yelled. "May obviously must like you at least a little bit, she put up with you for all that time through Hoenn, and then after that she even followed you through Kanto! The girl either has some serious mental issues, or she likes you."

Ash was about to flick Pikachu across the nose for the backhanded "compliment", but he realized that what Pikachu had said was true. But the only thing Ash had confirmed was that he was going to buy a gift for May; he still had no idea what he was going to get her. Sensing his confusion, Pikachu spoke up again.

'Ash, forget the present for now, you still have a couple days to pick one out. What you should be doing is calling May and asking her if she would like to spend Christmas with you. It won't hurt anybody if you do, and what would be the point if you buy her a present and she isn't around you to receive it? And if she asks why you're inviting her, you could just fall back on the fact that you just want to spend time with her as _friends_. But I honestly think that she will be excited enough to see you again to even care for a reason.'

Ash thought it over for a second, and with a smile, he gently pated Pikachu on his head, saying, "You're right, buddy, I think that I'll call her when we get back to the house. In fact, let's go right now!" but just as Ash finished speaking, his stomach growled rather loudly. With a light blush creeping on his face, Ash sheepishly said, "Well maybe after I get something to eat first, we can go home." Pikachu just sighed and shook his head, and they both got up from the bench and started the journey back to the Ketchum residence.

"Max!" a shrill voice screeched as it pierced the air. "Give me back my bandana this instant!"

"But if I did that, you wouldn't tell me what has been bothering you," replied the younger black-haired teen. Max was trying to figure out why she had been so quiet recently. Ever sense she saw Ash on the T.V., he had been in the coverage of the recent Kanto tournament, she was not quite all there mentally. Max had caught her day dreaming for long periods of time on more than one occasion, only to come out of it with a sad expression on her face. _'If this is all over Ash, then she needs to do something about it,'_thought Max.

"Max, please just give it back, that bandana means a lot to me," May pleaded with Max. "It was a special gift from someone special…"

A faint blush spread across May's cheeks, something that did not go unnoticed by her younger brother. _'This outta be interesting' _Max smirked to himself.

"Alright May, I'll give it back, but only after you answer my questions," said Max.

May was quickly being frustrated with the teen, but she really wanted her bandana back. With an agitated sigh, she replied, "Fine I'll play your little game, but you have to promise that you'll give me my bandana back afterwards."

"I promise." _'Man,'_Max thought. _'This is going to be way easier than I thought it was going to be.'_

"So what do you want to ask me?"

"Well, first I would like to know why you have been so distant lately. It seems like you're off in dream land like every other second!" Max stated.

"Well," May began hesitantly. "I've just been thinking about…. Someone," she said faintly as the faint blush on her cheeks changed to a darker shade of red.

"And who would this someone be?" asked Max.

May was blushing furiously now, her throat was starting to dry out as she said, "Erm… well you know him."

"And I know a lot of guys, but only one that would make you this distant," Max retorted.

Realizing that Max knew who it was, May could not control herself any longer, blurting out, "YES MAX, I LOVE ASH KETCHUM!" She felt an immediate sense of relief wash through her, this was the first time she had openly admitted to anyone else that she had strong feelings for the trainer from Pallet. May released a sign that had been building up inside her, as Max then proceeded to jump around the room in mock victory.

"I knew it!" exclaimed Max. "I knew from the moment you saw him on t.v., that you liked him! Just wait until I tell every…"

"Max, no!" May interrupted. "I don't want there to be any chance of Ash finding out about my feelings until I can tell him myself, so you cannot tell anyone about how I feel, understand?"

"I understand, I promise I won't tell anyone," Max replied while throwing May's bandana back at her.

Snatching the bandana from the air, May proceeded to place it back on top of her head. Content with how she looked, and seeing that nothing was out of place, May started to ask Max a question.

"So what are we going to do for Christma….," May was suddenly cut off as the telephone started to ring.

Hope you enjoyed Chapter 1, which has been updated to fix some errors and hopefully strengthen the story. I will also be fixing up chapters 2-4, and will have Chapter 8 out soon. Thanks for reading, and don't forget to review!


	2. Chapter 2

CIP CHAPTER 2

"Hold that thought, sis, I'm going to answer the phone," Max said with excitement. He loved it when he was right, and the fact that he was right about May having feelings for Ash just made it all the sweeter. But Max could not help but feel a pang of worry for his sister, as he thought to himself, _'I sure hope that Ash can return even halfof these feelings. May would be crushed if he flat out rejects her.'_

Realizing that the phone was still ringing, Max picked up the phone and answered it, saying, "Hello, this is Max speaking."

"Max!" The voice said on the other end of the line. "Long time, no speak buddy!" The voice was familiar, and definitely belonged to a male, but something was off, and Max could not quite figure out who he was talking to.

"Hey, I don't want to sound rude or anything, but who is this?" Max questioned.

A chuckle resonated through the phone, as the man on the phone said, "Max, you mean to tell me that even after all that traveling we did together, you can't even remember my voice over the phone?"

Another laugh could be heard through the phone, but this one Max easily identified, as there was no way he could mix up a Pikachu's laugh. Putting two and two together, Max came to the conclusion that there was only one man with a Pikachu that would call him buddy, and that was none other than…

"Ash! I'm so sorry, I can't believe I didn't recognize your voice sooner," Max apologized sheepishly.

Max could almost feel Ash smile as he said, "Don't worry about it, buddy. But hey, do you think that you could put your sister on?"

Although faint, Max could sense some nervousness in Ash's voice, but deciding to make nothing off it, he responded by saying, "Sure, just a sec."

Max put down the phone and ran down the hall towards May's room, thinking to himself, _'Man, May is totally going to freak when I tell her that Ash called.' _Reaching her room, he slammed the door open and yelled, "May, phone call for you from your true love!"

Before May could murder him, Max ran back into the hallway and into his room, further yelling, "The phone is on the table in the other room, and don't worry, I put the phone on mute!"

Anger still lingering for Max, May figured that even though he yelled, if no real harm was done then there was no foul. Comprehending that Max must have been referring to Ash, May hurried into the other room, picked up the phone, and with her voice filled with joy, said, "Ash, is that really you?"

"No, it's Gary. Of course it's me! How are ya?"

"I'm great, Ash, but cut the small talk, I want to know why you called!" Ash was surprised that he was put on the spot, and he was hoping that he could have used the small talk to calm his nerves. Regardless, he cleared his throat, and responded to May, saying, "well, May, I just wanted to call and see if you happened to be free this Christmas, I mean I know your family probably is doing something, but if you were able or even wanted, er, not to say that you would want to leave your family or anything…"

May giggled inwardly, Ash was on a nervous ramble. Deciding to help the trainer out, she stopped the train wreck, interrupting Ash in the process while playfully saying, "Ash Ketchum, are you trying to ask me if I would be interested in spending Christmas with you over in Kanto?"

Ash tried his best to not blush, but failed miserably, and could only lower his head down in embarrassment. Catching the playfulness in May's tone, Ash realized that May was taking it easy on him, plus, she did not seem to be against the suggestion, so he raised his head with a smile on his face.

"Yes, May, would you like to spend Christmas with me?"

Without missing a beat, May answered yes, much to Ash's delight. Now that the main purpose of the conversation had been taken care of, Ash and May talked about the logistics of May coming to Kanto, and quickly fell into small talk, with both catching up with the other, as the they conversed about recent journeys and accomplishments. Though with May's Christmas plans now having been drastically changed, she was not able to talk as long as she wished, for there was still a lot that had to be done before she could leave.

"I hate to cut this short, Ash, but I really should start packing for my trip," May said. "But we can always talk and catch up more when I get to Kanto, so I'll talk to you later, Ash!"

Ash returned the departing words with a "talk to you later" of his own, but before he hung up, he heard May yell into the phone, "and you better make sure I have a suitable place to sleep at night!"

A loud smack resonated throughout the Ketchum residence, as Ash had smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand. He had totally forgotten about getting the house ready for a quest, and not just any guest, this was May! He began to race throughout the house, cleaning and sweeping with a furious intensity that would even put Mr. Mime to shame. Pikachu sat curled in a ball in a corner of the house, but was situated where he could see the tragic comedy that was Ash cleaning the house.

_'These next couple of days should be really interesting,' _Pikachu thought to himself.

Back in Hoenn, May was in a complete state of disbelief. While she had played it cool on the phone, she was a total mess on the instead. She had just been asked by the man of her dreams, Ash Ketchum, if she could spend an entire Christmas with him. Not her asking him, he asked her. May's face flushed a bright shade of crimson, the thought of Ash even thinking about her during a time like this made her heart skip a beat.

_'Be careful, May,' she inwardly warned herself, 'just because he asked for a visit, even on Christmas, does not mean that he feels the same way about me as I feel about him._

But even with the cautious thoughts, May was still happy and giddy that Ash had invited her over.

"OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG, I'M GOING TO ASH'S HOUSE FOR CHRISTMAS!" squealed a very excited May. "Max get in here quick!"

"What's all the yelling for May, what's wrong?" questioned a startled Max.

"Nothing silly, it's just that I'm in the best mood right now and I need your help."

"What do you need help with sis? I'll do anything but go shopping with you."

May just laughed at the comment as she remember the last time she dragged her brother to go shopping with her. "Don't worry Max, I won't do that to you again." Max gave a sigh of relief. Hearing this she quickly said, "But don't think you're off the hook, this is something that might just be as bad."

"What could possibly be worse that going shopping with you?" Max question was a mix of curiosity and fear.

May slowly leaned in towards Max and whispered into his ear, "You're going to help me pack!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"


	3. Chapter 3

Hey guys! It's me again! And let me start things off by saying that I'm sorry for not responding in such a long time. I could say something like I'm getting used to having to go to school again, but that would be me lying. I've just been kinda lazy lately. :-P. Well anyway, thanks to those of you that reviewed and hopefully this chapter will be a little bit longer and a bit more, well awesome.

The Trip

"Is... that... all.. of.. them?" asked a rather exhausted Max.

"Yes Max thats all of my clothes. But you don't have to act like you just fended off a whole bunch of aliens or something," responded an also rather tired May.

"I think I would prefer that than having to pack for another one of your trips. I mean your only going for a few days, right? It isn't like you're moving in with Ash. You are ju... May are you even paying attention?"

But just one look at May answered Max's question. She was staring at a blank spot on the wall, and had a light blush across her face.

"O great," said Max. "It looks like the words 'move in with Ash' sparked a certain somebody's imagination. Max then took this opportunity to arrange an extremely clever and mischievous plan.

After some grunting, heaving, and mathematical equations being solved, Max finally yelled, "Hey sis! Look up, its Ash flying without his shirt on!"

May suddenly broke out of her day dreaming stat saying, "Ash fly where?" But as she looked up, Max pulled a lever that released about 5 gallons of chocolate pudding on top of May.

"Hey May, I didn't know that you... why is the pudding bubbling?"

Max started to look closely at the pudding and realized that there was an extremely hot surface under the thick layer of pudding. Max then started to hear some noises coming from the pudding. He put his ear close to the pudding to try and figure out what the noise was.

"Mmmmmmmmmm," was all that Max could hear. "Maybe I shouldn't stick around for this next part," said an increasingly nervous Max. As Max started to run out of the room, a brown hand reached out and grabbed his shirt. "Aw crap..."

"MAX! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

"Before you kill me, I have one thing to say."

"And what would that be Max?"

"Your shoe is untied."

"Wait, what?" May said as she let go of Max to look at her shoe, at which point she quickly realized her mistake as she heard the footsteps of a small 14 year old boy. "Max! Get back here!"

"I don't think thats logical sis!" Max yelled back behind his shoulder.

After a few hours of running, hitting heads of young boys that wear nerdy classes, and a very long hot shower, May was walking up with Max, Norman and Caroline to the boat that was bound for Pallet Town.

"Well, Mom, Dad, Max I guess this is good bye. For now at least," said a slightly teary eyed May.

"Just remember May," her mother said. "Be careful in all of your decisions and don't do anything stupid."

"Don't worry mom, I won't do anything stupid," replied May as her mom pulled her in for a hug. "Are you sure you don't want Max to go with you, May?" Asked Norman.

"Yes Dad, I'm sure I don't want Max to go with me," May replied rather quickly.

"Well, sis, I hope that you have a good time in Pallet," said a bruised Max. "O and don't worry about me, I'm sure these bruises will go away in time."

"Well I won't worry as long as I'm still getting pudding clumps out of my hair." Mat then turned to face everyone and said, "Good bye everyone. Have a safe Christmas with out me!" And with that she boarded the cruise-like ship and headed to her room as the boat started to pull away into the sunset.

Well there you go. Thats the 3rd Chapter. Just remember to R&R and I will be happy. Till next time...


	4. Chapter 4

Hey guys and gals! Its me again! You know, the person thats writing that story about the people and the things and what not. Well anyway here is chaper four! R&R!

Shopping and the Dock

"Man, it's been so long since I've seen May!" said our favorite blacked haired hero. "How am I supposed to by something for someone if I haven't seen then for so long. Hmm........" As Ash was thinking, and not paying attention to where he was going, he bumped into a tall man that had eyes. Except these eyes were different. They weren't eyes. They were eyelids to the eyes that the man had. At this deduction, Ash realized who he had just bumped into.

"Brock! Is that you!"

"Yes this is Brock. Who are.... Ash its you!" replied an excited Brock. "What are you doing here?"

"Well I was just Christmas shopping for Ma...ma.. ma family!" _I don't wan't Brock to know that I invited May instead of him for Christmas. Besides, if he knew that, he think that I like May, and I can't have that, because he would tell every person he would see._

"O thats pretty cool. I was just here to pick up a few things I ordered. Watcha doin for Christmas?"

_O crap, I can't lie to Brock, not when he asked a direct question like that. O well here goes._

"Well, I'm staying in Pallet this year. And I'm inviting someone to spend with me."

"Who are you inviting, and to make sure I don't sound like I want you to invite me, I already have plans with my family. Anyway, who are you inviting?"

"Well I'm inviting.....M...Ma" _Man why am I getting so nervous about telling Brock about inviting May?_

"Come on man! Spit it out already!"

"Ok ok. I'm inviting May over for Christmas this year."

Suddenly, Ash's checks got a bright red and tried to hide this redness from Brock. Unfortunately for him though, he failed.

"Awww, does Ash-y have a crush on May?"

"Brock! Not so loud, people might hear you!"

"Ash and May, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G"

And at that point Brock just fell to the ground laughing. Ash just sighed and sweat dropped at all the people that were looking at Brock's outburst. But then they just shock their heads and walked away. As Brock recollected himself, he noticed that Ash was kinda depressed about something. "Hey Ash, I'm sorry. In truth, I'm happy that you finally decided for your brain to start registering girls."

"Geez, thanks Brock. But thats not why I'm upset."

"Well what seems to be the problem" asked a confused Brock.

"It's almost Christmas, and I don't know what to buy May!"

"Ah the common obstacle to Christmas shopping, not knowing what to buy. Well sorry bud, but I can't really help you there. I would just say, buy whatever you feel is right to buy for her, and knowing her, I know she will love it."

"Thanks Brock, that makes me feel better."

"No problem, but unfortunately thats all I can say, because if I don't head home now, I'm going to be late. So see ya later Ash!"

"See ya later Brock! Have a good Christmas!"

"You too!" and with that Brock headed back home leaving a confused trainer to ponder what he should give to May.

_To be completely honest, Brock's advice didn't make sense at all,_ thought Ash. _But I can't say that to him, that would hurt his feelings. But I still have to buy som.... Wait whats that!_

As Ash was walking past a store, something had caught his eye.

"O my, thats perfect for May! I just have to get it for her."

And Ash rushed in to buy the item and then rushed home so he could meet May at the docks.

"_Attention Passengers! This is the captain speaking! The boat sailing towards Pallet will arrive in 5 minutes. Please make any final preparations before we arrive. Thank you, and we hope that you had a good traveling experience."_

"Well, I guess this means that I should get ready to get off. I wonder if Ash is at the dock yet?" May asked to nobody in particular.

"Hurry up Pikachu, or else we are going to be late!" yelled a running Ash

"Well its not my fault that you wanted to take a nap before you saw May!" replied an angry Pikachu.

"True, and sorry for yelling, its just that this means a lot to me, and I really don't want to be late. Look! I can see the boat coming up!"

"Thanks Miss for traveling PKMN Cruise and have a nice day."

May thanked the man and got off the boat. May then started to look around for Ash but he was no where in site. Then, she started to see a trail of dust behind a person out in the distance.

"Is that who I think it is?"

"We're almost there Pikachu! Just a bit farther." As Ash said this he started to slow down, and as he did this, he saw who he had painstakingly been running for.

"May! Hey May! Over here" yelled an excited Ash.

"Ash is that you? It is!" And at this, both ran up to each other and greeted in a big hug. But as Ash started to pull back, May just squeezed tighter and said, "O Ash, I missed you so much." Ash then started to blush at their closeness, and replied, "May I missed you also, but I also miss the ability for me to be able to breathe properly." Realizing what she was doing to the poor boy, she loosened her grip on the boy, but still didn't let go. "Ash, promise that we won't be away from each other for so long ever again."

"May I promise that I will never leave you for so long ever again."

"Ok good." and as she said this she finally let go of Ash. "So where to now?"

"We're off to my place!"

And with that, they started to head to the suburbs of Pallet Town, to celebrate the holidays.

Well theres Chapter 4. Hope you enjoyed it! Please R&R


	5. Chapter 5

Well here I am. Writing again. It hasn't been that long. It's only been *looks at the last updated thingy at the top* about a month and a half O.O. Well time sure does fly when you have exams and a *explicatory* girlfriend turned ex that make you the laughing stock of the entire grade. O well, that's high school for ya. Any way, enough about my personal life, let's get back to Ash and May's!

And sorry for not finishing this story before Christmas itself, as that was my original goal. I was going to do it this week, since I don't have school, but then the family came in town and that just surprisingly sucked up a lot of time.

The Shady Walk Back

We rejoin our heroes as they are walking back to the Ketchum house for Christmas. May was humming a little tune and Ash was deep in thought.

_Ok, so now that May's here, what do I do? Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and I have no idea what we are going to do until then. I never planned this part of the week. Well, there is the easy way out of this. _"So May, what do you want to do today?"

"Well, we could always just go to your house and chill. I mean, we haven't seen each other in a long time, and we do have some catching up to do. The other thing we could do, is go to the park and chill there. Either one sounds good to me."

_Of course May puts the decision on me. O well, I rather not be in the house all day, so… _"Let's go to the park!" exclaimed Ash.

"Ok, but first I need to tell you something."

"Sure, what do you want to tell me?" pondered Ash.

"Well…" _Should I tell him now how I feel? If I tell him now, and he doesn't love me back, then that could just make the rest of my trip awkward with him. I think I'll wait to do it. I need to wait for the perfect moment. _"I just wanted to tell you that I'm so going to beat you to the park!" And with that May grabbed Ash's hat and sprinted off towards the park.

"Wait a second, what just happened?" a confused Ash questioned. "May! Get back here!" And with that Ash took off towards May, but not without someone noticing. A person with grass green eyes looked at the running figures of Ash and May through a pair of binoculars. "Well, at least I found her. Unfortunately, that Ketchum kid seems to like her, and it would seem that she likes him too. No matter, once my plan is complete, she will fall into my open arms and will love me!" And then the mysterious green eyed man slipped into the shadows, hoping to accomplish his one Christmas wish. To capture May's heart!

Ok, so I know this is really short, but hopefully I can put up another on tomorrow to make up for it. This might just be done before New Years, and then I can make a New Years epilogue of something neat like that. Ok, until next time, and when I get all my wonderful presents, this has been Webby, a.k.a advanceshippingx2


	6. Chapter 6

Ok as I promised, another installment to CIP. And thank you everybody for reviewing!

O and I hope all of you guys had a good Christmas. Now only 364 more days until the next one….

The Park

"May, give me my hat back!" yelled a very frantic Ash. His favorite hat had just been stolen by the love of his life, and she was running through the park with it. Even though Ash was clearly faster than May, as his years of traveling on the road, May would always jump clear of Ash.

Ash then decided that enough was enough. He took a couple steps back and threw his entire body at May. May, being the quick thinker on her feet, planned to jump back and then step to the side to just let Ash fall on his face. What she didn't plan on though was a very conveniently placed rock right behind her foot. The rook itself caused no harm, but Newton's Law of Inertia and the rock together just created a giant mess.

May felt like her world was going in slow motion, her body was slowly stumbling back, and right before she was able to regain balance, our favorite raven headed hero plowed right into her. She then realized that she was falling back, and tried to reach her hands out to try to grasp something, but caught hold of Ash instead. Instinct made her wrap her arms around him as they were falling pulling him down with her and then…

Thud!

"Gah, my head," a slightly disoriented May said. As she was rubbing her head and she tried to get up, she realized that she couldn't. A certain eight-teen year old boy was preventing that. She then realized the full spectrum of the situation, and started to blush a bright tomato red color. Ash was on top of her, with his legs in between her two legs. Her two legs just happened to bend so that her heels were pressing up against his butt. Needless to say, this was an incredibly awkward situation.

"Ash…," May said. "Are you alright?"

But instead of an intellectual answer, the only thing she got was mumbling. And then she saw where Ash was. Out of all the things for a girl to miss, she had missed where his head was. Directly on her chest. This cause two reactions from May. One reaction was her to blush an even brighter red, but the other was not so calm. No, the other reaction sent Ash flying into the nearest tree. Then, out of nowhere, two big neon letters spelling out "K.O." appeared in the background behind the tree. Then May jumped in the air, did a back flip and make a peace sign before falling back down to earth.

However, Ash did not look as awesome as May just did. He just slowly slid down the tree, taking the tree's bark with him. To top that all of, he had a massive bump on the side of his head. He started to get up, but he just fell right back down. May then went over to Ash and helped him get to his feet.

"Ash, that's what you get for stuffing your face into my chest!" yelled an angered May.

"But… but"

"No buts. You are a pervert Mr. Ketchum, and you're lucky I don't just hit you the rest of the way back to your house!"

"May, you have to listen to me, I wasn't trying to do that! I was just trying to get my hat back!" Ash's reasoning seemed to work, as May calmed down a lot.

"Ok Ash, I believe you this one time, but if you ever try something like that again…"

"Don't worry May," Ash suddenly said. "It won't happen ever again."

_Well, at least it won't happen as long as we aren't going out,_ May thought to herself. _Wait, what am I saying? Maybe I'm the pervert in this…._

So after this incident, May gave Ash his hat back, and they walked around the park. They came across a play ground, and the childish side of May just couldn't resist. "Ash," May began to ask. "Can we please go and play on that playground?" May then sported the biggest puppy dog face that she could muster.

"Well, we don't have to be back until later tonight, so I guess I don't see why not!"

"Aw, thanks Ash you're the best!" And with that, May grabbed Ash's hand and dragged him towards the swing set. It seemed like she was a little girl all over again. As they were playing, little bits of snow started to fall to the ground. May's eyes just lit up in happiness. _Well, it seems that May likes the snow, _thought Ash. _Maybe I picked the right gift after all._ Ash was in a state of bliss. He was thinking about how May would react when she received his gift, but these thoughts were brought to an abrupt halt.

"What are ya thinking about Ash?" a curious May asked.

"Oh, it's nothing May," Ash began to respond. "It's just that..." and at that moment, Ash's stomach let out a low grumble that caused May to fall over laughing.

"Ash, you have such a one tracked mind!" teased May.

_Wow, _Ash thought to himself. _That was close; I should remember to thank my stomach in the future. In fact I think it's time to put my plan into affect. _As then pulled out a small whistle and blew into it as hard as he could. But no sound came out of the whistle. May just gave Ash a very curious expression, which Ash just returned with a you'll see look. Then, out of nowhere, a small yellow mouse came with a picnic basket tied to its back. Ash cut off the basket and hid it behind his back.

"So May, you hungry at all?" Ash asked.

"Why yes Ash, now that you mention it, I am feeling a bit hungry," May answered. "But what are we going to do for food?"

"That's were I come in!" And with that Ash opened the basket and pulled everything out anime style. In other words, Ash had created emptied the contents of the entire basket onto a square blanket. All the food was magically on plates and none of the drinks had fallen out of their glasses.

"Wow Ash, this is incredible! How did you do it?"

"Well, it really doesn't take much; you just kinda pull everything out and with practice…"

"No silly, I mean how did you get all this food here?" asked May.

"Oh, well remember when you first got here? At the docks?"

"Ya I remember, why?" asked a confused May.

"Well, right after I met up with you, I had Pikachu… you know, this might better be described in a flashback."

*Wavy lines*

-------------------------------------Flashback: 2 hours ago-------------------------------------------

"May I promise that I will never leave you for so long ever again."

"Ok good." and as she said this she finally let go of Ash. "So where to now?"

"We're off to my place!"

And with that, they started to head to the suburbs of Pallet Town, but not before Ash stopped for a moment.

"What's up Ash?" asked May.

"I'm just tying my shoe is all. You go ahead, I'll catch up."

"Ok Ash, but don't be gone for long!" And May then started walking away from Ash, who then took Pikachu and told him, "Pikachu, I need for you to go and get the picnic basket on the kitchen table for me. I have a feeling it's going to be useful today, and plus Mom worked so hard to put that together for me. Meet me at the park in about 2 hours, okay buddy?"

Pikachu just simply nodded and ran off into the distance.

---------------------------------------End Flashback--------------------------------------------------

"And that's what happened." Ash said as he finished his story.

"So you did all this for me?" asked a delighted May.

"Well, technically, my mom did…" but Ash never got to finish his sentence, as May had thrown herself onto Ash, hugging him as tight as she could. "Ash that's the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me! Thank you so much!"

Ash didn't try to get himself out of this hug, but instead, hugged May back, adding, "you're very welcome May."

_This feels so right, _both May and Ash thought at the same time. _I just don't ever want to let go. _Unfortunately for them, this little display did not go unnoticed by Pikachu. So Pikachu, being the best friend that he his, snuck behind May and start making kissy kissy faces so only Ash could see. This cause Ash to blush a bright red and then to start stammering, "Pika-pikachu, t-that's n-ot funny!"

This caused May to the look at Pikachu, who made the mistake of holding his last face. When he saw that May was looking directly at him, he starting wishing he was the cat pokemon, not the mouse pokemon. Pikachu then used agility to get the heck out of there, but not before he thought he saw an unusual colored bush.

-------------------------------------------Behind the bush---------------------------------------------

"Well my fears have been confirmed," the mysterious green eyed man said. "It looks like that they both do really like each other. I still wonder if I can turn May over to me by the end of Christmas. I might need some help doing so." So then the man pulled out his poke-tech, and started to punch in a number.

"Come on, pick up. I know you're there…."

"Hello?"

"Hello, Misty? This is Drew, I have a little favor to ask of you."

Ok and there ya have it. The sixth chapter is done and the seventh will hopefully be here shortly. Again, hope you guess had a Merry Christmas! R&R!


	7. Chapter 7

As May finally caught up to Pikachu, and made sure he had a nice sized bump on his head, Ash and May finally got to enjoy the picnic that Ash had provided. Well, by enjoy, Ash and May were devouring the small feast like they had never eaten before, and a seemingly never ending pile of plates was building between the two of them. Whatever appetite Pikachu had developed while being chased by May had all but disappeared, not even the ketchup bottle Ash had gotten him could stimulate his stomach.

_And I thought I had gotten used to this_, Pikachu thought to himself.

Not being able to view the gluttony anymore, Pikachu thought back to what he saw while he was running away. That oddly colored bush. Never before had Pikachu seen a bush like that in Kanto, especially not one that smelled like roses. Roses…. Why was that raising a red flag?

But before Pikachu could dive any further into the thought, he started to notice a shadow creep over him. As he slowly turned around, he froze in shock as the mountain of plates was doing its best impression of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Ash and May paid no notice to the danger, there was simply too much food to be eaten, and nothing was more important than that. Pikachu finally gained his senses, and was about to run away, but as turned, his foot slipped on a rock. As if in slow motion, Pikachu fell to the ground, and no sooner had he face planted in the dirt, a small gust of wind blew across the clearing. Pikachu could only watch in horror as the plates swayed back and forth, each time getting closer and closer to the point of no return. For a moment, the plates seemed to balance again, and Pikachu let out a relieved sigh. But fate was not that kind, as the leaning tower took a turn of the worse, and tipped over in Pikachu's direction.

_Well, it was a good life_, thought Pikachu as the plates collapsed on top of him with a loud crash.

Ash and May finally broke out of their eating trance with the commotion, as a massive pile of plates now stood where Pikachu had been. A shocked Ash surveyed the mess, until he was able to spot a yellow lightning bolt shaped tail sticking out from under some of the plates. Taking a closer look, he could see that the tail was twitching, and a sizable amount of static was surrounding it. Ash knew what was coming what was coming next, and only had time to yell at May to get down before a large crackling whipped through the air. A blinding flash enveloped the area, and a miniature explosion ripped through the plates, instantly disintegrating the cheap plastic. Pikachu's outburst quickly ended, and he was left standing in the middle of a black charred grass. The plates, the basket, all remnants of the meal had disappeared. Ash and May slowly got up, their faces had been crisped to a nice, dark burnt charcoal color. The two simultaneously released a sign, and brushed themselves off.

"Well," May started. "At least there isn't anything for us to clean up."

Ash gave a slight chuckle, and replied, "And it was probably for the best that we stopped anyway, who knows how long we would have been stuck there for."

"I don't know, Ash, something tells me that you would like eating till the end of time," May teasingly bantered.

Noticing that May was baiting him, Ash decided to take it anyway, and playfully yelled, "What exactly do you mean by that?"

"Oh nothing, Sir Ketchum. Hey isn't that the Ho-oh you always seem to see over there?" May asked as she pointed to an area behind Ash.

"Wait, really? Oh wow!" But no sooner had Ash turned around, May ran forward and snatched his hat from his head, placing it on hers instead.

"You really fell for that Ash?" May said as she continued to run away from Ash.

Ash could only stand there, stunned that he had indeed fallen into that, and that May had stolen his hat again. He could only smile though, and began to run after her.

_I guess my hat isn't the only thing she has taken from me._

As May, followed closely by Ash, ran down the road towards Pallet Town, Pikachu could only sigh at the two. Deciding that he should probably chase after them so he was not left behind, Pikachu started to sprint down the road. But not before he looked wear May had pointed, and a look of surprise hit his face. While May had not seen it, and had only tricked Ash, the legendary bird was indeed flying off in the distance, leaving behind its tell-tale rainbow. Ho-Oh quickly disappeared into the distance, leaving Pikachu in a state of awe.

_Who would have thought that out of all the Pokemon out there, Ho-Oh would have showed up, _Pikachu thought to himself. _But I thought Ho-Oh only showed up at the beginning of an adventure… at least seeing him is supposed to bring me joy!_

As Ash and May continued to run towards Pallet Town, snowflakes started to fall from the sky, beginning to coat the ground in a white glimmering powder. Ash and May could not help but stop by a meadow on the side of the road. May's face lit up, and Ash could only admire the beautiful smile May currently had on her face.

_This is the second time today it has snowed, and again May can't help but be happy_, thought Ash. _Now I really can't wait to give her my gift…_

Seemingly forgotten, Pikachu was still running to catch up to Ash and May. Running in snow was not exactly a strong suit of Pikachu's, and the powdery substance slowed his usually quick pace. Having short limbs did not exactly help either, as the snow gave extra resistance for each step he took, and was starting to tire him out.

_I am never leaving Ash's shoulder ever again_, Pikachu thought. _Surely they can't be that much farther ahead, there's no way they could have gotten to the house already. Plus these tracks are starting to get closer and closer together, they must have slowed down… wait isn't that them?_

Pikachu squinted and indeed, he had finally caught up to Ash and May. As he got closer, he was met with a pleasant surprise. They were standing there, staring out into the field, but it appeared that May had put her arm around Ash's back, and was leaning her head on his shoulder. Ash had also wrapped his arm around the small of her back, and tilted his head so that it was resting across her head. Pikachu had to fight the squee that the fan girl inside of him wanted to unleash. They were talking to each other, and Pikachu stopped so that he could clearly hear what they were saying.

"…is unbelievable," Pikachu could hear May say. "This is so beautiful… don't you think so Ash?"

Ash looked at May and said, "Yeah, saying beautiful hardly does any justice."

Pikachu immediately face palmed, thinking to himself, _Ash is lucky that was cute, and that May didn't pick up on that, because that was incredibly CORNY. I am so shocking him for that later… _

Looking up towards the overcast sky, Pikachu could tell that it was getting closer to nightfall, and that they would not want to worry Ms. Ketchum.

_Looks like it's time to break up the love-birds._

Pikachu ran up to Ash and jumped on top of his head, causing Ash to jump back in surprise.

"Oh there you are, Pikachu!" exclaimed Ash.

"You act like you forgot about me," Pikachu said while feigning hurt. "I guess you were too busy getting all close to Miss Beautiful over here."

A blush erupted on Ash's face, as he yelled, "What was that?!"

A confused, yet amused May could only wonder what Pikachu had said. "Careful now, Pikachu, I may not be able to understand you, but that doesn't mean I can't make you pay for it."

The back of Pikachu's head throbbed a little bit, and he was reminded of what "dues" May had inflicted upon him earlier. He gave May a sheepish look, and hid from her behind Ash's head, provoking a light giggle from May.

Deciding that it was time to continue on to Ash's house, the trio started back on the road towards Pallet.

"It won't take much longer to get to my house," Ash said. "Pallet town is just behind this hill, and then we'll practically be at my front door!"

May shot a smile at Ash, and said, "I sure can't wait! It seems like it's been forever since I've seen your mom, and even longer since I've had her amazing food…"

Ash could only chuckle, amused that even after their picnic feast, May's mind was already back on food.

"Don't worry May, mom's food is still just as good as you remember it. She'll be happy to have the two of us there, since we are the biggest fans of her cooking. And just imagine how tomorrow night will be."

"Tomorrow night?" asked a puzzled May.

"Well yeah, Christmas Eve is always when she prepares a HUGE dinner," replied Ash. "Trust me, you think her food was good before, just wait till you taste her cooking when she pulls out all the stops."

A small amount of drool started to dangle from May's mouth, a dreamy look was plastered across her face.

"Can it be tomorrow night now?" asked a dazed May.

_I wish_, Ash thought to himself.

The trio got to the top of the hill, and excitement washed over them. They had finally arrived at Pallet Town!

A very discouraged Drew looked away as soon as Ash and May disappeared over the hill. Thing could not be going worse than they were now.

_ That Ketchum, think he's so suave and cool_, Drew sneered in his mind. _Not to mention how cute he was trying to be, I think I might throw up. _

Lost in thought, Drew failed to notice the footsteps coming towards him. A girl with red hair tied off in a ponytail on the side of her head approached him, stopping when she realized he was too distracted to notice her arrival. She cleared her throat, and smirked when Drew nearly jumped out of his skin.

"So, Drew, you called me all the way out here, you want to finally tell me what you want?"

Drew composed himself and took a deep breath. Letting the breath loose in a sigh, he looked at Misty and gave her a devilish smile.

"Misty, Misty, Misty, how long has it been? I've missed you."

"Cut the crap, grass head, you know as good as I do that I'm only here because you said this involved Ash."

Deflecting the snide remark with his over-sized ego, Drew continued by saying, "Fine, we'll cut the pleasantries. As you may or may not know, your friend Ash has taken a liking to my friend May, and she returns the same feelings for him."

Though not shocking, a pang of pain ripped through Misty's heart, but she refused to show it to Drew.

"So?" she questioned Drew. "Why do you think I would care about that?"

"Spare me the act Misty, you may be able to keep a straight face, but your eyes can't lie. I see the hurt in them, how even the thought of them liking each other kills you on the inside. The fact that Ash, the one you love so dearly, might be snatched away. Believe me, I feel the same about May."

Misty was shocked to see that she had been so transparent, only her sisters back in Cerulean City knew that she loved Ash. Hardening her look, she took in Drew's words. They seemed sincere, but how could she know if she could trust him? She figured she had nothing to lose, and decided to give him a chance.

"So, what do you propose we do then?"

Drew smirked, knowing his plan could finally go into motion. He motioned for Misty to take a seat on the ground, as he also sat down.

"This will take a while, but we have some time. Make sure that you're paying attention, I don't want to repeat myself."

-End Chapter-

So… I realize it has been a while, but I think I have finally gained the heart again to write, and hopefully this chaper was enjoyable to read. Please, review and let me know your thoughts! I want to know what to fix for the next chapter! Thanks, SatoshiUnlimited


	8. Chapter 8

Another installment to Christmas in Pallet, hope you enjoy the chapter and please don't forget to review!

As the sun started to set behind them, the trio navigated through the streets of Pallet. Only a few people were still out on the Pallet streets as many had already gone back to their homes. Some had stayed though, as if they were waiting for something to happen. As if on cue, the Christmas lights that had been set up throughout the town started to flicker on, shedding hues of red and green across the walkways. The lights went across the sides of roofs, across the awnings of shops, some were wrapped around trees, light poles and even street signs. May stared up in amazement; she had never seen such a display. Some of the lights started to blink on and off, further mesmerizing May as the lights seemed to dance across the town.

Ash took notice of May's fascination with the lights, but before he could ask her why this was, she spoke up.

"Back in Petalburg, the city never really got into the decoration part of Christmas. Don't get me wrong, we would always have the Christmas spirit, but we never had something as pretty as this to go along with it."

May started to follow the lights, as they seemed to be leading to a single place. As she went down the streets, the decorations started to become more abundant, more vibrant. She started running, leaving Ash and Pikachu behind, as her excitement got the best of her. May turned a corner, disappearing from Ash and Pikachu, who just stood there and looked at each other. They both exchanged amused expressions, and took off after May. Turning the corner, Ash and Pikachu saw that May was nowhere in sight, leaving the lights as the only way to find May.

_'Judging by the path the lights are on, they seem to be leading to the park in the center of town,' _Ash thought to himself. _'We better follow the lights anyway in case I'm wrong.'_

The Pallet Town Park was just down the street and around another corner, and the center of town was not much farther than that. Ash, with Pikachu in tow, quickly turned the corner and met the entrance to the park, and stopped in surprise. In years past, the park only sported the most basic of decorations, as the Christmas decorators usually saved most of the lucrative decorations for the buildings in town. Apparently this year was different, as the park had been transformed into some sort of winter wonderland. Two large gates, wrapped with ribbons and wreathes, had been put up at the entrance to the park, and were currently closed. The path leading to the gates was lined and lit by glowing candy canes, and the usually dark colored brick had been painted a sparkling gold with a silver lining. Looking back at the gate, Ash could see May; her hands were wrapped between the gate's bars, and her face was pressed up against them so she could try to get a better look on what was inside. She could only read a sign past the gates that read,

"Only open December 24, Christmas Eve. Don't miss the magic of the Season!"

May let go of the gate, and as her hands fell to her sides, she slumped her shoulders and released a heavy sigh. Hearing footsteps, she turned around to see Ash and Pikachu walking up to her, a look of sheepishness took over her face as she remembered she had left them behind.

"Sorry I abandoned you guys, I guess I got caught in the Christmas spirit," May said apologetically as she trailed off.

Ash chuckled softly, quickly responding by saying, "It's fine May, we understand. And don't be too disappointed, we could always go through the park tomorrow when it's open, if you want."

Excitement instantly replaced the sheepishness, as May's face lit up just as bright as the lights she had been mesmerized by. "Do you really mean it Ash? That won't get in the way of what your mother has planned, will it?"

"Well, I'd have to ask her about it, but I can't see anything being planned that would keep us from being able to at least see the park a little bit. So yeah, I mean…"

But before Ash could finish, May launched herself at Ash, completely smothering him in a hug.

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, Ash!" May squealed. "You have no idea how much this means to me!"

Ash's face felt like it was on fire, he was glad May had her face in his chest, or else she might see how Ash's face was now shaded a bright, vibrant red. He could hear Pikachu snickering and joking about how Ash's face could be mistaken for a Christmas light, but he did not care. Ash wrapped his arms around May, and muttered a quick 'you're welcome' to her. For the second time that day, May and Ash could only think, _'This feels so right.'_

Standing behind Ash and admiring the cute scene, Pikachu was glad to see that his best friend was happy. Something in the air felt off though, and his ears perked up to see if he could sense anything. Before he could, though, a sudden gust of wind picked up, shaking the branches of the trees above Ash and May. Snow had built up on top of the branches, but had now been unsettled because of the wind. A second gust blew through the trees, sending the piles of snow straight towards the ground. Pikachu was the only one to notice quickly enough, and jumped out of the way as snow crashed down on top of Ash and May. Pikachu looked around, his battle instincts telling him that the wind was not a natural occurrence. He saw a bright, red flash of light in the corner of his eye, but by the time he turned to see what it was, nothing was there, except for an oddly colored bush, and the faint smell of roses. But before Pikachu could further investigate, he heard a groan emitting from the snow pile; clearly Ash and May were stuck. Deeming that helping Ash and May out of the snow was more important, Pikachu rushed to their assistance.

"Drew, that was way to close!"

Having almost been caught by Pikachu, Misty and Drew had just run back to the outskirts of Pallet and away from the park.

"Well what did you expect me to do, Misty?" Drew said in anger. "Who knows what would have happened if I wouldn't have stepped in!"

"You could have planned it out slightly better! Pikachu almost caught you when you recalled that Flygon of yours!" Misty could feel the rage build up inside of her.

"And you don't think Pikachu would have seen Flygon if I would have left him exposed like that? He was a sitting duck, there was no way he could have stayed hidden!" Drew said in retort.

"Don't you have a Butterfree, grass head? It could have easily stayed hidden in the trees!"

Drew realized she had a point there, and backed off from the argument. He took a deep breath, and calmly said, "Look, I'm sorry, okay? I freaked out when I them like that, I didn't stop to think about what to do, I just reacted. I'll be more careful in the future, but this has all just proven that we are going to have to step it up a notch if we want them to like us instead of each other…"

Drew paused for a second, deep in thought. Misty looked at him with curiosity, wondering what Drew could possibly be planning. She noticed as a sneer slowly grew on his face, a look that worried her a little.

"I have an addition to the plan, Misty," Drew said in a low voice. "In fact, forget the original plan, it's clear now that it is too weak to work. This new plan can't possibly fail!"

Ash, May and Pikachu quickly made their way to Ash's house. Ash and May, with assistance from Pikachu, had escaped the snow pile, but both needed a set of warm clothes to change into to get out of their now wet and freezing clothes.

"D-don't worry, you g-guy's," Ash said through gritted teeth. "My house is really c-close b-by."

Pikachu saw the white picket fence that surround the Ketchum residence first, and immediately broke out into a run. Ash and May immediately followed, they could not wait to be inside the warm house. Running inside the fence and straight to the doorway, Ash reached out to quickly open the door, but was surprised when the door opened before he reached it. With nothing to stop the trio's momentum, they collided into each other as they entered the house, and each wound up sprawled across the floor, leaving Ash and May disoriented and Pikachu knocked out cold. A light giggle came from behind them, and as Ms. Ketchum closed the door, she said, "I was wondering when you three would be crashing in."

Ash groaned at the pun, muttering, "Mom, that was horrible, and if I didn't already have a headache, that would have given me one."

"Now that is no way to talk to your mother, Ash Ketchum," Ms. Ketchum said sternly. "And why are you and May so wet? She'll catch a cold if she's kept in those clothes!"

May, who was still slightly disorientated from the crash, slowly got up at the mention of her name. She noticed that Ash was being reprimanded, so she looked up at Ash's mother and said, "It's okay, Ms. Ketchum, I've got a change of clothes in my bag."

Ms. Ketchum quickly forgot about her anger, and turned to May and kindly said, "You can call me Delia, sweetie. I have set up the guest room upstairs for you to stay in while you're here, so you can change in there if you want," Delia said with a smile.

May returned the smile with a thank you, and hurried up the stairs to change out of her wet clothes. When May was out of sight, Ash let out a sigh of relief, glad that he was no longer under his mother's wrath, or so he thought.

"Don't think you're off the hook, young man," Ash's mom said as she grabbed Ash by the ear. "You run off to go shopping this morning without even eating breakfast, come home afterwards telling me you need a gift to be wrapped, only then to tell me that you've invited a girl to stay with us for Christmas! And then you don't show up for hours, and when you do eventually come home, you and your friend are soaking wet? And you know what really takes the cake?"

Ash could only brace himself, he had figured that this was coming when he came home, but he thought she had already covered everything. Whatever this "cake" was, he was going to be in a heap of trouble. But instead of another round of yelling, Delia released Ash's ear, and wrapped her arms around her son.

"My little baby is all grown up and in love!"

Now that was the last thing Ash was expecting his mother to say, but was not really surprised that she knew about his feelings for May, as she was his mother after all.

"Now enough of this," Delia started. "I'm sure you want to change out of those clothes. Run upstairs and get changed, and tell May I'll have dinner ready soon."

Ash got up, picked up a still unconscious Pikachu, and made his way to the stair case, but he had not even gone up two steps before he could hear his mother yell, "And don't forget to change your you know what!"

"Mom!" Ash gasped in horror. He knew that she had shouted just loud enough so that May could hear, and his fears were confirmed when he heard laughter erupt from the guest room. To avoid any further embarrassment, Ash climbed the remaining steps and practically dove into his room, shutting the door behind him so he could change and get ready for what surely would be an interesting dinner.

Thanks for reading! I'm currently in the process of writing new chapters and making edits and changes to previous chapters, which hopefully is making this a better story! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and don't forget to review! ~SatoshiUnlimited


	9. Chapter 9

Here's Chapter 9, I hope it was worth the wait! Enjoy the chapter and don't forget to review!

After insuring that the door was closed, Ash let out a huge sigh, leave it to his mother to take every opportunity to tease him. With the better part of his mind arguing that she was the one that brought him in this world and helped shaped him to be the young man he was today, Ash decided that arguing with himself would not accomplish anything thing and that he should change out of his soaking wet clothes. Removing all articles of clothing, Ash made sure that he followed his mother's wishes and put on a clean pair of striped underpants, because even as much as he hated her embarrassing reminders, cleanliness and hygiene were important, especially now that May was here.

After putting on the striped boxers, Ash took the opportunity to look at himself in the mirror that was attached to his door. He never really had noticed before, but there was something that gave him the desire to really evaluate his stature. When Ash first began his journey, his was a small, scrawny kid who had not yet experienced the growth the came with puberty. But from natural aging and the amount of time that he had spent traveling for all these years, Ash could definitely tell a difference in his body. While Ash did not have protruding biceps or pectorals, or a set of abs that would make LT. Surge look like a grunt, Ash did have a solid definition throughout his body, and he definitely was not by any means a scrawny kid. Ash had developed quite the athletic body, and he could not help but think of how May would react or even if she would be impressed if she saw his build. And then it hit him, Ash only cared about the way he looked because of his feelings towards May.

_'Well that's a silly thought,' _Ash scolded himself inwardly. _'I know May would not care what I looked like, she values a personality over ayn amount of muscle.' _Ash then curled his arm and flexed his bicep, showing off a nice, defined bump.

_'Although, a little bit of muscle certainly couldn't hurt.'_

With a chuckle, Ash slid on a pair of sweatpants, but could not find any clean shirts. Looking around his room, Ash noticed that none of his shirts were anywhere to be found; only his pants and other random assortments of clothing were neatly folded and placed on his dresser, but no shirts. Looking under the stacks of folded clothing, Ash remembered that the last time he had seen his room, which was before he had left to go pick up May, his clothes had been randomly scattered across the room. Only one person would have folded his clothes, and Ash did not like how this situation was turning out. Clearly, Ash's mom was messing with him for having a dirty room, but how far did she go in making her point?

Going through the last stack of clothes, Ash finally found a shirt, but outwardly groaned as he also found the answer to his question. While nothing about the shirt's pattern design was bad, in fact, it was a nice athletic shirt; it was the fact that the shirt was a couple sizes too small. Seeing no other option, Ash put the shirt on, and struggled as he was barely able to squeeze inside of it. He could already feel the shirt constrict tightly around his body, and as he looked in the mirror, Ash saw that his defined figure was seemingly chiseled into the shirt.

"Great," Ash grumbled. "Now I look like one of those tools on that show 'The Fuchsia Shore'. The only thing I need is a spray on tan and some gel in my ha-AHHH."

Before Ash could finish his thought, a surge of electricity coursed throughout Ash's body, and caused him to yelp loudly. His body strength failing him, Ash collapsed into a heap on the floor, as a faint cloud of smoke rose from his body. As he lay on the floor, Ash could hear the snickering of his electric mouse, and could only stutter as he asked, "Pik-kachu, how d-did you even g-get in here? I made sure the d-door was shut…"

Collecting himself, Ash stood up and saw Pikachu sitting on his bed, but before Ash could enact revenge on his Pokémon, Pikachu burst into a fit of laughter. Fearing the worst, Ash turned towards the door so that he could look in the mirror, but unbeknownst to him, May had opened the door, and was standing in the door frame. A look of shock sprang across May's face, but she too started laughing as soon as she fully took in Ash's newly decorated face. Pikachu's thunderbolt had changed the direction of Ash's spikes, as they now were all sticking straight up, almost as if they were gelled in place. The bolt had also singed Ash's face, which was now an even shade of brown, and with the shirt that was two sizes two small, Ash really did look like a giant tool bag. May, however, had not fully taken notice to the shirt and the definition it brought to Ash's figure, and when she did, a bright red blush erupted across her face.

_'I didn't know Ash had muscle,' _May thought to herself.

May continued to stare, to which Ash took notice. The corner of his mouth lifted into a smirk, and asked, "May, are you okay? You seem to be in a daze."

"W-hat, who me? " May stuttered. "I was just… oh shut up Ash Ketchum, how was I supposed to know you hunked up since the last time I saw you?!"

"Well I dunno, maybe you could have noticed during all those hugs today," Ash replied, the smirk turning into a smile. _'Did she really just say I hunked up?'_

"And you were wearing like three layers of clothing, for all I know you could have been built like a stack of pillows!" May retorted. "Besides, I was more focused on the fact that I was actually spending time with you, or even talking to you for that matter…"

A pang of guilt hit Ash, who's smile flipped over, as he knew that he had really done a bad job with keeping in contact with May since their journey through Kanto. Sure, they had seen each other at the Wallace Cup in Sinnoh, but after that, the two had not really contacted each other at all. Shaking the singes off his face and the static out of his hair, Ash walked over to May and placed his arms around her, lightly pulling her closer to him as she wrapped her arms around his torso. Ash remembered what she had said when she first arrived in Kanto earlier that day.

'Promise me that we won't be away from each other for so long ever again,' Ash recalled May saying to him at the port.

_'I knew that she was feeling down about our time apart, but I didn't realize she felt this strongly about it,' _Ash somberly thought.

May suddenly lifted her head, and Ash could see that a light glaze had covered her eyes. Blinking back the would be tears, May softly spoke, almost whispering to Ash, "You know, after all this time, I was starting to think that you had forgotten about me, Ash. It's selfish of me to say, because I know that you were on your journey and I was on mine, and I could have easily tried contacting you, but a part of me was saying that it would just distract you, and I only wanted what was best for you, and know I'm rambling and I sound like.."

"May," Ash interrupted. "It's okay, I know how you feel, I kinda felt the same way. Things just didn't feel right after you went to Johto and I traveled through Sinnoh. Sure, Dawn and Brock made nice company, but, neither of them were you, and I know that I should have contacted you, and I'm sorry for that. I know I promised earlier today that I would never go so long again without contacting you, and I really meant it, because May, there's just this was I feel about you that I can and cannot explain, I get all these weird feelings I don't understand, but it just feels right."

Realizing that he was about to go beyond the point of no return, Ash took a deep breath and steamed forward anyway.

"May, I guess what I'm trying to say, is that I really think that I'm in…"

***DING DONG***

Before Ash could finish his confession, a loud bell rang throughout the house. Ash was puzzled, as the only bell in his house that sounded like that was the doorbell, but who could be at the door at this time of night? No sooner had Ash asked himself this, his mother called upstairs, yelling, "Ash, sweetie, you and May have company at the door!"

Ash and May could only look at each other with confused looks etched on their faces, as neither of them had known or had even invited anyone else to the Ketchum residence for Christmas. Releasing each other, both Ash and May quickly exited the room and hurried down the stairs with Pikachu scurrying at their heels. When the trio reached the bottom of the staircase and entered the living room, May and Ash stopped dead in their tracks, as nothing could have prepared them for who had rang the doorbell.

"Misty, Drew, what are you guys doing here?" Ash asked, failing miserably to hide any surprise in his voice.

"Now Ash Ketchum, that is not anyway to greet your guests, especially when they look like they've been in the cold for hours!" Ms. Ketchum scolded her son. "Now Misty and Drew, make yourselves at home, and take some time to warm up. I've got dinner just about ready, and I'm sure you guys could use a nice home-cooked meal. It sure is a good thing I always make extra food!"

Ms. Ketchum made her way back into the kitchen, leaving Ash, May, Misty and Drew in the living room just staring at each other. Drew coughed, looked at Ash, and said, "Well, I guess to answer your question, truth is, we really only came here after a mix up of plans. Misty, why don't you tell them what happened?"

Misty shot a piercing glare at Drew, she had expected Drew to come up with the cover story, not him make her make one up. Thinking quickly, as to not draw suspicion from Ash or May, Misty hastily put together a story in her head, and explained the "situation" to Ash and May.

"You see, I was looking for something to do for Christmas about a week ago, and Drew just happened to be in Kanto at the time, and we ran into each other, so I invited him over to the Cerulean Gym, but my sisters apparently wanted to throw some sort of party with their friends and kicked us out, so we didn't really have anywhere else to go. So I, being the brilliant person that I am, suggested that we come here and see if maybe you guys had room for two more?"

Misty smiled sheepishly, hoping that May and Ash would buy here lame excuse, and apparently Ash did, as he replied, "Sure, there's always room for friends of ours. We'll have to discuss the sleeping arrangements and everything, but we can always do that after dinner."

Stunned that Ash had bought the excuse so quickly, Misty flashed him a smile, but noticed that May did not look to be as convinced. But before anymore could be said, Ms. Ketchum came in the room shouting, "Dinner is ready!"

I felt like this chapter turned out well, but what do I know, you're the reader! If you feel like it was horrible, have any suggestions, or liked the chapter, please let me know! I work well with constructive criticism and would greatly appreciate it! Thank you! ~SatoshiUnlimited


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